See 3 easy ways to be eco-friendly at Christmas (and give yourself more time too)
- Gifts
What is enough? Try to avoid last-minute buying. You’ve probably got enough already. Everything we buy will eventually be thrown away. So consider this with what you buy and consider what extra clutter you might be adding to your loved ones’ homes.
For the person who really has everything they need, give an experience present or charity donation gift (to their favour charity or even an animal adoption)
2. Food waste
5 million puddings, 2 million turkeys, 74 million mince pies go to waste each Christmas.
– Try not to overbuy
– Put waste food in to food caddy for recyling
– Freeze leftovers and label
3. Christmas Tree
Fake or real? Either way, you can make a significant eco-friendly impact at Christmas.
Plastic – buy the best quality you can afford, store carefully and keep for a minimum of 10 years
Real – if it is cut at the base – the tree will capture carbon from the atmosphere as it grows (yay) but this will be lost back into the atmosphere on disposal or even increased depending on what you do with it after Christmas.
Going into landfill (where anaerobic digestion) takes place releases 3 times as much carbon back into the atmosphere – adding to climate change
Just making sure you take to the green composting at the recycling centre or arrange council or charity collection for composting will prevent any carbon from being released.
It might seem like an extra hassle at Christmas but it was worth the effort of getting it into your home, so you can drop it off after.
Which green tree is best to buy is a little more complicated. For more on Christmas Trees – listen to Sliced Bread podcast
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001svkh
References: Belfast University, BBC, UK Gov.com and The Soil Association